AN EX-KING S School pupil has been appearing on TV this week to talk about her work as an army radiographer in Afghanistan.

AN EX-KING'S School pupil has been appearing on TV this week to talk about her work as an army radiographer in Afghanistan.

Catherine Lee, 24, is more used to x-raying broken bones. But since deploying to a state-of-the-art hospital at Camp Bastion, she has had to face more daunting injuries.

Corporal Lee, pictured right with a colleague, joined the Territorial Army while a student at Cardiff University. She is now in a team helping the injured back to health at the hospital which was formally opened by Armed Forces Minister Bob Ainsworth on February 6.

Miss Lee said: "Back in the UK I am relatively junior in my department, dealing with day-to-day x-rays and CT scans.

"Here I deal with injuries I would normally never see, in challenging conditions where people's lives are at stake."

She added she has to make decisions on how to deal with multiple injuries caused by mines or explosions and hopes when she returns to the UK after her three month tour to put her new skills to good use.

Parents Adrian and Molly, of Temple Street, Sidmouth, spoke of their pride in Catherine's work.

Mr Lee, himself a TA officer until the mid 1990s, said Catherine was always an adventurous girl and the family had two years to get used to the idea she may have to go overseas and put herself in harm's way.

He said: "No parent wants their child to go into any form of danger but Camp Bastion is as safe as anywhere in Afghanistan."

"In the midst of all that carnage, the fact that there are people trying to put others back together is important, regardless of whether you agree with why soldiers have been sent there."

Mrs Lee said she was very proud of the work her daughter did to help save lives. Since pictures first surfaced of her daughter at work, she has had them on her desk and has been showing them to colleagues.

The couple said they could not wait to see their daughter arrive home safe and well.

Catherine is expected back in the UK in March. According to her parents she will take up a new post at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital.